Trujillo floors Varner at UFC 169

Jamie Varner (right) fights Abel Trujillo during UFC 169 on Saturday night at the Prudential Center in New Jersey. Trujillo floored Varner with a right hand to kick off the main card. (Joe Camporeale/USA Today Sports)

Just as quickly as a single fight can turn, an entire card can do the same thing.

Sharing the New York/New Jersey stage with Sunday’s Super Bowl at MetLife Stadium, Dana White got the weekend started across the way at the Prudential Center with UFC 169 on Saturday night.

It wasn’t a great start, as a smattering of boos followed a preliminary card that saw every single bout — seven fights in total — go the distance.

But Abel Trujillo and Jamie Varner changed all that in a hurry.

Midway through the second round of the first main card bout, the two fighters squared off in the middle of the octagon, trading blows, before Trujillo landed a right-hand bomb flush to Varner’s jaw, which sent the veteran to the canvas face first in what was perhaps his last chance to reestablish himself in the UFC’s lightweight division.

“I’m a killer and you gotta kill me in here,” Trujillo said of the scintillating exchange.